


the places we call home

by psychopass



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Fullmetal Alchemist AU, M/M, Mechanic Kuroko, State Alchemists!GOM, just the fma verse tho, might add more pairings later, yeahh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-14 01:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4545819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychopass/pseuds/psychopass
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of a handful of dysfunctional, odd ended teenagers for whom home consists of each other, all of them a bit broken and jagged around the edges and looking for a way to fix each other and themselves. Or, alternatively: six prodigious State alchemists, a runaway that might hold the key to helping them achieve what they want, and a mechanic who's willing to help them achieve their goal through thick and thin.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. his deepest secret

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kanekookies](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kanekookies/gifts).



The stupidest ones were always the one who hung around the alleyways. Akashi had enough experience to know this by now; the cheap thugs who hung around the shadows and promised empty threats and held guns to your head but would flee as soon as they saw one companion fall. They always wore dirty hoodies, smelled like the cheap cigarettes you could steal from the corner store with ease because the manager was half blind and only getting blinder with age, and couldn't hold in their liquor, stumbling around after dark with their slurred crooning to find a girl. They always had guns that they held up with trembling hands. If you swung your fist back to fake a punch, they'd scream and run. If they were really stupid, they'd drop the gun as well.

Stupid ones make an easy job, at least, Akashi muses. He turns his head to address the rest of the group.

"We'll try to make it a clean job today," Akashi orders. "The military wants these guys gone as soon as possible so just strike them down. No killing today."

"Why do we always get the dirty jobs?" Aomine complains, loading his gun. "Not to mention boring ones."

"Because we're State alchemists," Kise quips, leaning against the side of the building. "You know this by know, Aominecchi. They quite literally tell you 'congratulations, you're a dog of the military now!' when they hand you your silver watch and paper. Plus, you're part of this team which has 'doing all the dirty jobs' in it's job description."

It was already dark and the lamps flickered in the night, the street devoid of people besides the four of them. Akashi silences them, beckoning them to follow his lead as he turns the corner into a decrepit alleyway. It's dead silent and the only audible noise is the sound of their boots thudding against the concrete, stepping through trash and puddles, crushing shards of glass. Akashi turns another corner. At the end of this alleyway sat a small dimly lit bar. The permeating smell of booze and cigarettes only grows stronger as they approach the bar. Men inside are hollering and guffawing, clinking their glasses and Akashi scrunches his nose in distaste as he walks up the small grungy flight of stairs to the back door of the bar. It's padlocked and boarded shut. Akashi jangles the doorknob experimentally. The flimsy thing comes off as soon as Akashi tries to turn it and he tosses it aside and it falls to the cement with a clatter. He signals for the rest of them to stand back a bit as he places his palms on the door, transmuting the door to pieces.

The bellows and carousing inside the bar stop when they see their back door has been blown to bits, ogling at the red haired teenager standing there, clad in a cloak that matches the color of his hair as he surveys the scene. Barely two dozen guys, and a couple of women - prostitutes - probably not with them, he notes and that's when the first bullet comes whizzing towards him. It lodges in the door frame, near Akashi's face and he flashes them a fiendish smile, not wavering at all. He steps towards the man closest to him and swings his fist back, punching him hard enough to knock him off his seat and fall back unconscious, his nose bleeding.

"Who the hell are you!?" the others demand as they stare at their fallen companion in a mix of horror and outrage. Someone else lunges at Akashi with a knife and he dodges, kneeing them deftly in the crouch. When they bend down in pain, Akashi brings up his left arm up, jabbing his elbow into the guy's back, prompting the latter to collapse. Akashi pries the knife out of his hand and turns around, having already heard the footsteps of someone else trying to sneak up from behind him, plunging the knife into the man's chest, invoking a pathetic strangled gasp of surprise from him, eyes widening.

It's at that time, the other three come into the bar to aid Akashi. Aomine takes his gun and shoots one guy in the leg twice, and uses his elbow to jab the face of another. Kise throws one guy to the ground, jumping out of the way from a round of bullets fired at him, kicking the gun out of their hands. They whimper as their weapon skids across the floor, falling on their behinds crawling backwards away from Kise, pleading for mercy. Kise, of course, shows none and kicks the both of their heads, rendering them unconscious. Murasakibara takes his knife and plunges it into the stomach of another, even temporarily using him as a human shield when rounds are fired at him and he throws him on top of smaller guy so he's pinned under the heavier, unconscious man. At this point, nearly half of their men had been taken out and the remaining hold up their guns, rage written all over their face as they shout about how they weren't about to be taken out by a couple of brats. Akashi claps his hands, the transmutation circle on his gloves lighting up briefly as he sends a small spark of flame towards one guy, burning his hands. He lets go of the gun he's holding, wailing in pain.

"They're alchemists!" he wails, furiously wringing and blowing on his now raw hands. A companion standing near him opens fire upon Akashi, and the redhead, taken slightly by surprise, holds his left arm out in front of him to shield himself, the bullet lodging in his arm.

"W-what?!" the guy cries out in confusion. "Why are - how are you still standing? You're still a kid!" He fires another bullet at Akashi's arm and Akashi lets out an amused chuckle. The sleeve of his cloak is ripped now anyways so he sheds it entirely, leaving him in a sleeveless tank that clearly shows his arms. His left arm was made entirely out of gleaming automail with two bullets now lodged in it's forearm, denting the exterior a bit. The guy sputters in surprise, firing several more bullets, all of which graze or lodge into Akashi's left arm and when Akashi tries to raise his arm, he finds it's been damaged too much, wires showing through and parts badly dented. He curses under his breath, jumping out of the way of another bullet.

"Can't transmute anymore, now, can you!" the man says gleefully and Akashi lets out a pitiful sigh for the man, raising his right arm and snapping his fingers, burning the former's hands as well, just like how he had done to his companion. The man lets out an ungodly screech, dropping to his knees and sobbing.

"Oi, oi, Akashi, you're going to get murdered for that stunt. And I don't mean the burning," Aomine calls, grinning wolfishly as he disarms another guy and Akashi winces sheepishly. Another snarling man pushes his companions aside, staring down their intruders.

"You brats think you're the only alchemist?" he demands and he lunges towards Aomine, clasping his hands around Aomine's right arm and there's the sudden flash from the transmutation, Aomine's arm breaking in half.

"Wh-?" the alchemist says in shock, taking a step back and Aomine grunts, the ripped sleeve of his blue cloak showing automail torn apart, wires dangling and metal parts barely hanging on. The other half of his arm scattered in various parts across the floor of the bar: nuts and screws strewn everywhere and bits of wires and metal flying yards away.

"Both of you have automail!?" he yelps. Aomine wastes no time, kneeing him in the stomach and the alchemist doubles over in pain. Murasakibara transmutes a set of handcuffs from a discarded gun, clasping it over the man's hands, and for good measure, Akashi decides to burn the skin off the flesh of his palm so the tattooed transmutation circles are gone, leaving behind raw, bloody hands as the alchemist screams and curses out.

The remaining members stare in fear before backing away, firing their guns randomly out of sheer terror for the lives, shattering light bulbs, lodging bullets in the counters and legs of stools before they start to make a run for the exit, pushing the door open in a haste, stumbling and swearing. Kise presses his hands together before they can make it out the door, a flash of light appearing before a transmuted cage had trapped the remaining members, causing them to curse and howl, rattling the bars of their makeshift prison.

The prostitutes had edged away into a corner during the fight, cowering in fright as they take in the scene before them. The bar is left a mess, half the light bulbs shattered and several flickering, glass from the bulbs and fallen alcohol bottles smattered on the ugly yellow painted floor. They're all defenseless and Akashi picks up his discarded cloak, walking over to them. He couches down in front of them, where they shrink away at his presence, whimpering.

"Are you with them?" Akashi demands and the girls shake their head frantically.

"We were just told to come here-" the girl in the front with wavy brown hair cries out, sounding close to tears. "So if you need something, if you want something from us, if it's our bodies - I'll give you mine - just please don't touch these girls, they're barely old enough and this is the only way we can survive-"

Akashi shakes his head, smiling gently. "We're not going to hurt you. And we don't want anything from you, least of all your bodies," he reassures. "We won't lay a hand on you."  
The girl's blue eyes widen in relief and she nods frantically. "Thank you," she murmurs. "Who are you...?"

"We're State alchemists," Akashi admits and a few of the girls let out a soft gasp. "I don't know what you've heard about us, but no matter how shameful it is, we promise we're not going to report you the military, not when you've done no wrong."

The girl, who apparently is their make-shift leader of sorts, shakes her head again. "No, no, we were just surprised considering that you're all so young. We have no right to judge when we make a living like this." She spits out the last word.

"Are you all alright to stand?" Akashi asks and she nods, getting up, wobbling a bit before steadying herself. She stands shorter than Akashi, self consciously tugging down her short dress that barely covers enough and he offers her his cloak which she takes gratefully. Instead of draping it around herself, however, she passes it back and it's draped around a short girl with blonde hair who whispers a barely audible thank you.

Kise walks over to the phone that sits on the counter, dialing the military to arrive so they'd arrest the criminals and he jabbers rapidly into the receiver, giving them instructions and when he looks at Akashi, mouthing 'front door or back door?' and Akashi mouths back 'front'.

"Come through the front door, uhhhh not the back," Kise says hastily before putting the phone down. "You better get going," he says, nodding to the girls. Murasakibara had finished prodding at the prisoners in their cage, demanding they hand over their coats and jackets and they have no choice but to comply, passing them through the bars to Murasakibara who places them on the floor, transmuting them into half a dozen more cloaks. He brings them over to the girls, handing one to each of them and they all whisper their gratitude as if they couldn't talk above a whisper.

"Thank you very much!" the girl in the front says, bowing deeply to them, the other girls following in suit. "We don't deserve your kindness."

"Nonsense. Walking out in your current attire this late at night can't end in anything good," Akashi dismisses. Aomine comes over and a few girls give apprehensive looks to his half torn automail. He presses a gun into the girl's hand. 

"It's loaded - woah, don't point that at _me_ ," Aomine informs, holding his hands up in surrender as the girl weighs the gun in her hand, pointing it experimentally ahead of her.

"Thank you," the girl repeats as she puts the gun down.

"No need to thank me," Aomine grumbles, clearly embarrassed as he scratches the back of his neck with his still good arm. "I just took one of their guns. You guys have gotta scram now before the military shows up."

The girl beckons for the others to follow her as she starts to walk towards the back door, but before she steps out of the bar, she looks back at them with apprehension. "We never even caught your names."

"Aomine," Aomine grunts, jerking a thumb towards himself. "Akashi. Kise. Murasakibara," he says, pointing at all of them in succession and the girl's eyes widen.

"I - I should've guessed - you guys are -" she stammers.

"Yeah. That's us," Aomine shrugs. "The prodigious State Alchemists."

She opens her mouth to say something but then closes it, bowing her head before hurrying out the door with the rest of the girls following her.

  
  
The military shows up about fifteen minutes later, arriving through the front door and handcuffing the criminals, thanking the four of them for their hard work as always. They nod and file out of the back door and into the night. Akashi shivers slightly, having given away his cloak. It's a few hours past midnight, in the middle of the night and he proposes that they best head back to their dorms in Central headquarters.

"But I'm hungry," Murasakibara complains. "We could go to that good twenty four hour diner first, couldn't we?"

They're mostly unscratched from the fight although Kise has a few cuts on his arms from when the bullets had grazed him. He's limping slightly on his already weak knee, Akashi notes. Akashi himself has two cuts across his cheek and Murasakibara has a cut down the side of his left leg. Aomine trudges along, carrying the majority of the other half of his automail arm that had been blown apart, otherwise unharmed.

"Now who's going to be the dead one?" Akashi mocks. "You're even worse off than I am."

"Shut up," Aomine snaps with all his brilliance. "I'm going to die. I can't just die, I haven't lived long enough yet," he frets.

"We could go to that diner," Kise says thoughtfully. "I'm kind of hungry too."

"Wonderful, Ryouta's paying then?" Akashi says as they walk out of the alleyway and back onto the streets.

"Sounds good," Aomine grins and Kise frowns in protest.

"It's Aominecchi's turn to pay though!" Kise argues hotly.

"I'm injured and disabled. Cut me some slack," Aomine sniffs as he whacks Kise with the half of his arm in his good hand.

"Ow! Aominecchi! Don't do that! Automail hurts," Kise cries out, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head and glaring reproachfully at Aomine. They walk down the street, turning onto another, one notably cleaner and well lit. They walk a few more blocks before reaching their favorite twenty four hour breakfast diner, the Teiko Diner, located near Central headquarters. The familiar blackboard that displayed all the daily specials on it sits outside as always, although it's too dark and poorly illuminated to read. Akashi opens the door, the bell tinkling as they walk in. The checkered floor is burnished and gleams, the diner lit with a cozy feel, quiet music playing from a radio perched on one of the shelves mounted on the walls. A single waitress scrubbing down the counter looks up to greet them, giving them a friendly, tired smile which they return. There's one other customer in one corner of the diner, nose buried in a book with an untouched drink in front of him and the four of them sit on the other side of the diner, squeezing into a booth. The waitress in a white serving outfit comes over and passes out menus. They don't bother glancing at them, having already been here so often, reciting their orders for the waitress to jot down.

She comes back a few minutes later with their food, wishing them a good meal before returning behind the counter. Aomine picks up a fork with his left hand, grumbling about what a pain it was to eat with his non dominant hand and Kise brags about how he'd knocked three guys out with a move he had picked up from one of the previous incounters with criminals they had to take care of. Akashi takes a bite out of his french toast, chuckling slightly as Aomine savagely tells Kise to shut up and stop emitting _sparkles_.

The music drones on in the background and the man in the other side of the diner shifts in his seat, taking a sip out of his drink. He seems to be staring at them, peeking up from the book every so often. He hasn't flipped the page the entire time they've been here. Akashi tries to ignore him, knowing that if it was important enough, the man would say something. Judging by the grudging sip, Akashi guesses he's here to do something else and only ordered the drink because they thought they'd be kicked out for not being a customer. Everyone knew that the owners of the diner were the nicest in town and that they'd welcome just about everybody and anybody, paying customer or not, as long as they didn't cause trouble. Akashi thinks it's safe to assume that if the man doesn't know this, he doesn't live in Central, or at least, hasn't been living here for very long. Akashi checks the clock on the opposite wall: nearly two in the morning. Not the time most civilians were out for a stroll or sitting in a diner. The man has gray hair that sticks out from under the hat jammed on his head and looks decently tall. Akashi's so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice Kise was talking to him until Kise waved a hand in front of his face, calling for his attention.

"Earth to Akashicchi!" Kise calls and Akashi snaps out of his stupor, blinking in surprise.

"Yes, Ryouta?" Akashi turns his attention back towards his friends and Kise stares at him in concern for a moment before repeating what he said before. 

"I said we're going to visit Kurokocchi's tomorrow," Kise says and Akashi cringes slightly. Aomine blanches as his eyes trail to his broken arm on the table.

"Suddenly," Aomine announces, shoving his plate away. "I don't feel so hungry anymore."

"Eat," Akashi advises. "It's probably our last meal."

"It was nice knowing you, Aka-chin and Mine-chin," Murasakibara says around a mouthful of waffle and syrup. "Let's hope Kuro-chin's in a good mood tomorrow."

"I'm going to fucking die at the age of fifteen before I even get my arm back," Aomine bemoans, poking moodily at a sausage in his plate.

Akashi can see the man finally get up, leaving a few bills on the table before closing his book and standing up, staring long and hard at their direction - at Akashi specifically? - for a moment before walking out of the diner, the bell tinkling. Akashi knows he's done quite enough to earn him a long list of enemies and people who'd like his head on a plate so he's not particularly worried. But yet.

"Kurokocchi is terrifying when he's angry," Kise agrees, patting Aomine's back sympathetically. "How long have you known Kurokocchi anyways?"

"Eleven years. Uh. I think," Aomine says.

"Twelve," Akashi corrects.

"There you have it," Aomine shrugs. "I've known Tetsu and Akashi for twelve years of my life, _wow._ "

"Sometimes I forget you guys are technically brothers," Murasakibara adds.

"That is so not true," Aomine deadpans. "We're not brothers. Tetsu's not our brother either. Tetsu's parents were just generous enough to take us when after the incident."

  
The _incident_ , which none of them ever say aloud because it's always been a touchy subject. A train from a neighboring country travelling to Amestris had crashed, and out of the two hundred people on the train, it had been possible to count the survivors on both hands without using all fingers. Akashi and Aomine, who had been on the train were only two years old, barely old enough to talk and walk. They had miraculously survived the crash, having been small enough to wiggle out of the crack and crevices of the debris, although not completely unharmed either. They had both lost an arm - Akashi his left and Aomine his right. They'd been dropped onto the streets after that and it had been sheer luck for them that the Kurokos had found them and were generous enough to take them in, even giving them automail. They raised the two boys just like their own, along with their own son, Kuroko Tetsuya. Adoption had always been a messy thing in Amestris for the past decade or so and officials had only cracked down on it a couple of years ago, so technically, Aomine and Akashi were still orphans.

"I don't think I'd ever want to be related to Daiki," Akashi says, wrinkling his nose and Aomine sticks his tongue out. The two of them had known each other for the longest in the group, were rather close, and could not get along. At all. "Daiki wet the bed until he was eight. Disgraceful," he informs and Kise snorts with laughter, cracking up and Aomine's jaw drops in outrage, glaring at Akashi and Kise.

"Why you bastard - Akashit couldn't sleep without a stuffed animal until he was nine," Aomine proclaims and Akashi kicks him under the table, the latter yelping in pain.

They finish their food and Kise is forced to pay, leaving a couple of bills and a generous tip on the table before leaving. It's nearly three when they leave, yawning and sauntering down the streets back to the dormitories. They arrive back at the dorms, unlocking the door and tiptoeing in quietly so as not to disturb anyone, walking up to their shared dorm on the second floor. It wasn't so much of a dorm as it was a flat, complete with a bathroom and a small kitchen. State alchemists were paid well and pampered to be dogs of the military.

Akashi switches on the lights, walking over to a cabinet and pulling out a drawer. He rummages around, tossing towels at each of them.

"Go clean up your wounds," he orders. Most of the blood must have dried by now and perhaps it would have been a better way to treat them right away but they were nothing serious. There would be no need to visit Midorima to treat them. Akashi carefully extracts the bullets from his arm the best he can with a pair of pliers he finds in the drawer, throwing the bullets into the trash. He unhooks his State Alchemist watch from his belt, placing it on his nightstand.

Akashi cleans his own cut but it's not deep enough to need any bandaging and instead, sits down next to Kise, helping him bandage his arms and his knee.

"Thanks Akashicchi," Kise says gratefully before standing up and stretching. Akashi patches Murasakibara as well, who in return, pats Akashi's head to show him his gratitude. They're sweaty and gross but they ditch the idea of taking a shower in the middle of the night, not wanting to wake anyone else up. Instead they slip into pajamas, flopping on their beds.

The lights are off and Akashi lies in bed, the taste of French toast in his mouth as he recalls the memory of the mysterious man. Some part of Akashi felt that he should know the man but Akashi's positive he's never seen him before in his life. But the man had stared so attentively at Akashi, as if he knew everything about him. Akashi can already hear Aomine's snores and he sits up from his bed, reaching for the glass of water he always kept next to his bed stand. He takes a sip, running a hand through his hair and he picks up the watch, moonlight glinting off the polished surface. Silently, he unlatches it and in dark with the help of the light from the moon, he can barely see the time: nearly four in the morning now. He runs a thumb over the inside cover of the watch, feeling the familiar engraving of the date. Akashi's most closely guarded secret comes in the form of the date of the trainwreck followed by the words 'DON'T FORGET' that he had carved into his watch when he first received it at the age of twelve.

  
He wonders if the man knew about that.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you liked it, bae!! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> i've prewritten like 4 chapters of this already so you can expect probable periodic updates. i told you guys i was writing lke 230 things and i was not lying (there's still another multichaptered fic after this one actually...or, the story of how i die LOL) this is probably going to end up being a monster fic /sweats/ 
> 
> playing around with writing styles a bit lmao more like writing incoherent rambling but yeah 
> 
> as always, feedback is greatly appreciated! <3
> 
> my tumblr: [sei-akashi](http://www.sei-akashi.tumblr.com/)


	2. new member

Akashi wakes up three hours later to sunlight filtering through the window and before anybody else. He brushes,  and showers, washing his face, wincing slightly when the water hit his still open cut. He scrubs his skin near raw to get all the grime off, washing his hair as well before stepping out.

When he comes out the bathroom, showered and dressed, Murasakibara's up as well, yawning and patting Akashi on the head, trudging into the shower himself. Akashi puts on coffee and makes breakfast. Admittedly, he's never been the best cook but even he's able to handle making breakfast, at least. Kise and Aomine wake up to the sound of eggs being scrambled and they squabble over deciding who would get to shower first, even challenging each other to a fist fight at one point before they settle it with rock paper scissors. Kise wins and he skips gleefully to the shower after Murasakibara's finished, Aomine grumbling under his breath like the sore loser he was. When Aomine steps into the shower, all the hot water's been used up and he lets out an ungodly yelp that probably woke half the dorm.

"I am starving," Kise announces and he sits down at their small kitchen table, Akashi bringing the food to the table.

"Akashicchi is like a mom," Kise grins cheekily and Akashi swats at the back of the blonde's head. Aomine comes out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist, shivering and moaning about the cold water, giving Kise the stink eye.

"Put on clothes," Akashi says, clicking his tongue in disapproval. _'Yes, mom',_ Aomine mutters under his breath, curling his lip at Kise.

"I won fair and square," Kise tells him as he shovels eggs into his mouth, Aomine scowling.

They finish eating breakfast and argue over who should do the dishes.

"I made breakfast," Akashi reminds.

"Fine," Kise says.

"I got cold water for my shower," Aomine chimes in. So that leaves Kise to play rock paper scissors with Murasakibara. He loses much to his chagrin and Aomine high fives Murasakibara smugly.

 _"Fine,"_ Kise huffs and he piles all their dishes together, dragging himself to the sink.

 

 

By the time Kise had finished washing the dishes, it was nine and they head out to Kuroko's. The four of them gather outside a small mechanic's shop in the center of Central. It's a small, modest shop tucked away on the corner of Main Street with a hanging sign that reads 'Automail and Repairs'. A half dying potted plant next to the door and windows that are just a little too dusty but still showed the messy interior: papers and books and screws and tools flooding the tables and spilling onto the floor. To a visitor unfamiliar with Central passing by, they'd probably disregard it as another cheap shop: the kind of with prices that really are good to believe and automail that breaks within days from the half-assed service. Nobody would ever guess that it was home to the best mechanic in Central.

And also the scariest when he was angry.

"Who's going to go in first to break to the news to Kurokocchi?" Kise asks and Akashi and Aomine both shift from foot to foot uncomfortably.

"Not me," Aomine says hurriedly. "I'm too young to die."

"I'm younger than you, Daiki," Akashi retorts. "By four whole months."

"Aka-chin," Murasakibara says, turning towards the redhead. "You are the leader of the team."

"That-" Akashi protests but he doesn't get to finish as Kise opens the door to the mechanics shop, shoving Akashi inside, the deceiving bell tinkling cheerfully.

A short figure walks out of the hallway, carrying a box of tools and stops when he sees Akashi standing there awkwardly.

"Akashi-kun?" the blue haired mechanic asks, raising an eyebrow. His hair's all mussed and disheveled as if he'd hadn't brushed it properly in days, sleek brown goggles pushed up into his hair, resting atop his head. His hands are covered in machine oil and ink stains, a pen tucked behind his ear and a rolled up blueprint under his arm as he walks over carefully, brushing past Akashi.

"Yo, Tetsuya," Akashi says smoothly as if he has nothing to fear. (Which is quite far from the truth. He, Akashi Seijuro, leader of the special operations team, State alchemist at the age of twelve is terrified.) "It's been awhile, huh?"

"Yes, and none of you ever seem to bother giving me a phone call," Kuroko says, displeased, as he drops the box of tools down on the counter. "Kise-kun is the only one that puts a bit of effort into contacting me. Did you need something?"

"Well..." Akashi replies hesitantly and Kuroko narrows his eyes. "I seem to have broken my arm again-"

Akashi doesn't get to finish his sentence when a wrench comes hurling at his head and he only narrowly dodges it.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROKE IT AGAIN?!" Kuroko yells and Akashi smiles sheepishly.

"Hah, well, you see-"

_"DON'T GIVE ME ANY EXCUSES."_

"I-"

"WHY IS IT THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO COME WITH YOUR RUINED AUTOMAIL? THE AUTOMAIL THAT IS MY FINEST CREATION, DAMAGED AND DENTED. AKASHI SEIJURO DO YOU HAVE _ANY_ IDEA THE _PAIN_ I GO THROUGH TO FIX THAT FOR YOU-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Akashi apologizes meekly, holding up his right arm in surrender. If he hoped that this would calm Kuroko, he was mistaken.

"Akashi Seijuro- _chan_ ," Kuroko says in his falsely sweet voice which is much more terrifying than when he's yelling, holding another wrench and taking a step closer to Akashi. "If you break my arm one more time, _I will have your hide_."

Akashi gulps at this, bowing his head in apology, as if he was some child receiving a scolding. Out of the corner of his eye, Kuroko can see the rest of them peering through the open door curiously.

"The fact Kurokocchi can make Akashicchi bow down like that will never cease to amaze me," Kise whispers. Kuroko turns his head towards the door and his eye widens at the sight of Aomine, and it's the latter's turn to gulp in fear.

 _"AOMINE DAIKI,"_ Kuroko screeches and a wrench sails right towards Aomine, hitting him square on the head. _"WOULD YOU CARE TO EXPLAIN WHY YOUR ARM IS TORN IN HALF?!"_

"Please don't kill me!" Aomine pleads, covering his face with his other arm as he rubs as his now angry red spot on his forehead and Kuroko 'hmphs', crossing his arms.

"Come in," Kuroko sniffs. "I'll fix Akashi's arm first." He walks over to his counter, starting to pick out the parts and tools he needed. Akashi sits down on the stool next to Kuroko's work table, taking off his cloak and his shirt, the rest of them entering the shop. Kuroko comes over, picking up his screw and detaching Akashi's arm before reaching for a box of spares under the table, latching one onto Akashi's shoulder. He beckons Aomine over next and does the same, scowling as Aomine places the two halves of his arm on the table.

"It'll probably take a littles less than a week," Kuroko says, holding up their automail and inspecting the damage. "Akashi-kun are these bulletholes? What have you guys been doing?"

"Nothing too dangerous," Akashi reassures and Kuroko narrows his eyes disbelievingly. Akashi slips back into his shirt and cloak, innocently avoiding Kuroko's suspicious gaze. Kuroko's always known that their work was dangerous and their lives were often on the line but they were under strict orders not to talk about their job to the public so Kuroko was kept in the dark, much to his chagrin.

"I'll call you when it's ready so don't do anything reckless, since you only have spares for the time being," Kuroko instructs and they all nod. They bid Kuroko goodbye, Kise hugging him tight enough so that he can't breathe and Akashi telling him to stay safe with a soft smile. Aomine headlocks Kuroko and ruffling his hair and Murasakibara pats his head.

  "I was told we were going to have a new member today," Akashi tells them as they head out of the shop. "He's a brand new state alchemist, same age as us. I don't know his name."

"Well he's got to be good at least, right?" Kise says. He's still limping slightly. "State alchemist at age fifteen is still incredibly impressive and he's got to be good if he's placed on our team."

They drop by the market to buy groceries and Murasakibara ends up toting around a whole bag of snacks and street food. Akashi reminds him that lunch is very soon but Murasakibara waves it off and finishes eating half of the bag by the time they're done shopping.  They argue over how many cookies they should buy while at the baker's, Akashi saying they shouldn't buy any at all but it's three against one and eventually Aomine takes two dozen and stuffs it in their bag much to Akashi's disapproval and hands a few bills to the baker. Akashi spends way too long picking out fruits and vegetables, Aomine yelling at him to hurry his health nut asss up.

Nobody's in the mood to cook though, so they walk back to their dorms, drop the groceries off and take a taxi to a restaurant. They argue over which restaurant in the car as well; Kise wanted Xingese food, Aomine wanted to go to the restaurant where the hot waitress was working at even though she already had a boyfriend, and Murasakibara just wanted to go to the restaurant with the best dessert. They tap the cab driver on the shoulder, loudly asking him which one he thought they should all go too and he laughs nervously before picking Xingese food.

Kise cheers the entire rest of the way, bouncing up down in his seat, all smiles and Aomine's disheartened, muttering about it being a lost opportunity. Kise tips the cab driver extra with a wink when he pulls to their destination.

"Bastard, you totally cheated," Aomine growls, pushing Kise. "You paid him off,"  and Kise looks at him indignantly.

"It's not paying someone off if I do it after I ask," Kise protests. "He didn't know I'd tip him extra-"

"Of course you'd tip him extra, it's you-"

"Table for four," Akashi tells the waiter and he nods, escorting them to their table. The food is good, everything probably bit more oily than it had to be and Akashi and Kise are the only ones that end up using the chopsticks. Murasakibara hadn't even bothered touching them, being unaccustomed with how to use the cutlery from Xing and takes the fork, digging in. Aomine tried at first because Kise got it immediately after copying Akashi who's always seemed to know how, and he can't have Kise outdoing him, but he ends up losing to Kise for the third time that day when he can't pick up any noodles and decides his hunger overrules his pride.

It's noisy, with customers and staff bustling around and the sounds of the kitchen and sizzling pans in the back. Murasakibara pays this time and they end up getting five fortune cookies instead of four. Akashi ends up with the extra fortune cookie, cracking it open to read the slip of paper.

You'll discover something about yourself that you never knew before, so prepare for everything to change.

He laughs crumpling the slip of paper and gives the cookie to Murasakibara who doesn't bother reading his own fortune. Only Midorima and Kise really took them seriously.

Akashi breaks open his second cookie.

A man with blue eyes will change you.

He shakes his head, discarding that fortune as well and pops the cookie into his mouth.

  


 

They walk back to headquarters and one of the lieutenants wave them over.

"You're late, Akashi-san," she reprimands and Akashi flashes her an apologetic smile. The new member standing next to her is tall, about the same height as Aomine and Akashi scowls briefly. _Why was everyone a damn tree anyways?_ He looks as if he could crush a person with his hands, with a fierce intensity and intimidating gaze. He's wearing a red cloak like Akashi with his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.

"I'm Kagami Taiga," he says gruffly. He has red hair, a sturdy build, and weird eyebrows. He doesn't hold his hand out for a handshake.

"Akashi Seijuro," Akashi says, raising an eyebrow. So this guy had some fire in him, huh? That was good. Taming the flames was Akashi's specialty. "I'm the leader of this team. So welcome aboard, Kagami-kun, and I congratulate you on becoming a State alchemist."

"That sounds incredibly condescending coming from someone like you who became State alchemist at twelve," Kagami says with a frown. The lieutenant leaves them, nervously telling them to get along and that Kagami would be rooming with  them and appropriate adjustments had been made.

"This is Ao-" Akashi says, beginning to introduce the rest of them but Kagami cuts him off.

"No need, I already know all of your names. Except I don't see that Midorima guy around, isn't he a State alchemist too?" Kagami asks, looking around.

"Shintarou is indeed a State Alchemist but he devotes his time to study and research instead, seeing as he is a doctor. Or rather, training to be one," Akashi says.

"Why are your eyebrows so weird?" Murasakibara demands, leaning down to inspect Kagami's eyebrows in greater detail. "They're like, split in half."

"You have purple hair," Kagami says, rather affronted as he pushes Murasakibara away.

"He makes a fair point," Kise concedes. "Did you already get a tour?"

"Yeah, uh, except for the dorms. They gave me the key though."

"We'll take you there now," Akashi says and he turns away, leaving the rest of them to follow. They arrive at the dorms, Akashi unlocking the entrance and all while telling Kagami about the jobs this team would be assigned, warning him of the dangers. He isn't fazed at all and Akashi's impressed. He leads him up to the dorm, tapping on the silver plate with their room number 415 on it so Kagami would remember. He unlocks the door and lets out a soft murmur of surprise, Aomine whistling and Kise's jaw dropping.

"Is it-is it always this big?" Kagami asks in awe. It's nearly twice as big as when it was when they left and Akashi guesses they had merely connected it with the vacant room next to theirs.

"No. They must have expanded it without telling us, since you're going to be living here now," Aomine says walking around. Everything's mostly the same, except it's more commodious.

"Daiki! Shoes!" Akashi chastises as he removes his own shoes, stepping into the apartment.

"Sorry mom," Aomine mutters, taking his shoes off and tossing them to the door mat.

"This is your bed," Akashi tells Kagami, pointing the one next to Murasakibara's. "Clean up after yourself."

"Yeah, or else Akashicchi will have your hide," Kise quips, sitting down on Kagami's bed and bouncing up and down on the mattress while Akashi reprimands Murasakibara for leaving candy wrappers under his bed again.

Akashi takes off his cloak and Kagami ogles at his prosthetic arm in surprise, as if questioning the lack of automail.

"I thought you had automail?" Kagami asks and Akashi folds his cloak neatly.

"I do," he confirms. "It's currently being fixed though."

"Akashicchi and Aominecchi destroyed their automail and Kurokocchi was furious at them," Kise says gleefully. "We've got take you to see Kurokocchi sometime, that reminds me!"

 

* * *

 

It turns out Kagami's not a troubling roommate at all. He cleans up after himself, wakes up on time, takes timely showers and he can even cook.

"This is so much better than Aka-chin's cooking, no offense Aka-chin," Murasakibara says through a mouthful of french toast at breakfast and Akashi can't even find himself to be offended because the food _was_ spectacular.

"We're keeping you," Aomine says, groaning in pleasure when he takes a bite of the crepe. "Even if you turn out to be shit on the job, you can always cook for us."

Kagami asks a lot of questions, telling them that he had lived out in the countryside before and was still adjusting to life in Central. _Did some diners really stay open for twenty four hours?_ Yeah. _Did that mean you could have pancakes at three in the morning?_ Yes and we do it regularly. _How good are you guys in action?_ Pretty good. _Can you beat me?_ Dunno. _Can I battle you?_ No. _Can I battle you?_ No. _Can I battle you?_ No, you can't battle any of us. _But how am I supposed to know if I'm up to standards?_ When you join us on your first job. _Are the jobs dangerous?_ Yeah. _How dangerous?_ Life-on-the-line dangerous.

A little over a week later, their phone rings while they're playing cards and everyone forces Kagami to answer it.

"Akashit-kun, Ahomine-kun, your automail is finally fixed," a tired voice says when Kagami picks it up. He suppresses a chuckle at the nicknames, guessing that this was the Kuroko guy they were talking about.

"Uh, hate to break it to you, but I'm not Akashi or Aomine. I'll be sure to tell them though," Kagami says. There's a moment of silence.

"Who are you?" Kuroko demands worriedly. "Are they alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, they're fine," Kagami reassures. "I'm a new recruit."

Kuroko lets out an obvious sigh of relief at this, grumbling about how they never told them anything and how thoughtless they all were before thanking Kagami and hanging up.

"Was that Kuro-chin?" Murasakibara asks, raking in his winnings for the round, Aomine looking rather pained. Nobody, not even Akashi, could surpass Murasakibara's poker face.

"Yeah. Told me to tell you that - and I quote - 'Akashit-kun, Ahomine-kun, your automail is finally fixed'" Kagami says, sitting back down. "Nice nicknames."

"Shut up, Bakagami," Aomine says, kicking him under the table. "Let's go visit Tetsu right now, then."

"You only want to leave because you're losing," Kise accuses, but even he brightens up at the prospect of visiting Kuroko again, putting his cards down.

They take a taxi to Kuroko's and shove Kagami into the store first.

"Human shield," Aomine explains and Kagami opens his mouth to protest. Kuroko's sitting on his stool, head bent in concentration and goggles over his eyes as he makes last minute adjustments to the automail in front of him. He looks up when the bell tinkles, removing his goggles and he blinks in surprise when he sees Kagami.

"Uh, hi." Kagami gives a small wave and Kuroko's expression of confusion turns into that of realization.

"Ah, so you're the new recruit," Kuroko says, wiping his hands on a piece of cloth before coming over. "I'm Kuroko Tetsuya, it's nice to meet you."

"Kagami Taiga," Kagami says. There's a bark from down the hall and Kagami freezes.

"Y-You have a dog?" Kagami demands nervously and Kuroko nods his head in affirmation. A rather large dog comes running down the hall, automail in the place of one it's front legs.

"Meet Nigou," Kuroko says as the dog pads up his owner, panting excitedly. "Would you like to pet him? He doesn't bite."

"Uh..no thanks," Kagami says quickly, backing away. "I'm not really fond of dogs-" Nigou barks again and Kagami flinches. Nigou bounds over to them, passing Kagami much to his relief and pouncing on Aomine who lets out a chuckle, petting the dog affectionately.

"Good to see you again, boy," Aomine grins as Nigou licks his cheek. Kagami looks rather uncomfortable being anywhere near Nigou so he retreats to the far end of the shop, sitting on a stool.

"Akashi-kun, your automail," Kuroko says, walking to his table and picking up the metal arm, signaling for Akashi to sit down. Akashi takes off his shirt, Kuroko removing the spare prosthetic arm and positioning the automail in place.

"Ready?" Kuroko asks and Akashi nods, Kuroko pushing and securing the automail in place. Akashi lets out a low groan of pain as the nerves connect, clenching his teeth. He winces even after Kuroko's done, flexing his arm experimentally before thanking Kuroko. Kuroko does the same for Aomine.

"Is automail that painful to attach?" Kagami asks as Aomine swears in pain, screwing his eyes shut.

"Extremely so," Kuroko says. "These two are just foolishly brave and too proud to show it. Most people cry from the pain during their first time. Not to mention, it even hurts after as it takes a few hours for the nerves to connect and settle."

"How did the two of you lose your arms anyways?" Kagami questions and everyone freezes, the room turning quiet. Kagami's mouth forms an 'o' as he realizes he must have breached a touchy subject.

"An accident," Akashi says finally, slipping his shirt back on. Kagami nods awkwardly in apology before the conversation resumes.

* * *

 

Later, when the four others had went to go run an errand to buy new parts for  for Kuroko, Kagami's left alone with the blue haired boy.

"Are you an alchemist too?" Kagami asks awkwardly, trying to break the ice. Kuroko shakes his head, not breaking his concentration on sketching the blueprint in front of him.

"I'm just a mechanic," Kuroko explains. "Also, it's best if you don't ask about the accident to Aomine-kun or Akashi-kun. It's hard for them to talk about it, much less confide in someone who's still virtually a stranger."

Kagami nods in understanding. "But uh - they didn't, they didn't perform human transmutation did they?" Kagami inquires, voice lowering to a mere whisper at the words 'human transmutation'. It's the ultimate taboo in the world of alchemy. Most who attempt it die and none come out unscathed, usually losing a body part in exchange. It's too complicated for most people to even think about attempting but the two of them were prodigies -

Kuroko stops sketching, looking up at Kagami seriously.

"No, they did not," Kuroko says firmly. "But it's probably best not to talk about human transmutation in front of them for the time being either. They'll tell you the truth in due time, though, when they feel like you're ready."

"When will I be ready?" Kagami presses and Kuroko shrugs.

"When you're ready to accept them completely for who they are, probably," Kuroko says. "It's up to them in the end. I think you're  a good person though, so you have nothing to worry about."

His words don't exactly reassure Kagami but he thanks Kuroko anyways. The four of them return with bags full of parts, dropping them on Kuroko's counter who lights up, scooting over and abandoning his blueprint in favor of the parts.

"Annnnd here comes Tetsu's inner nerd," Aomine drawls as Kuroko holds up a metal piece with excitement, eyes sparkling.

"You shush," Kuroko says, waving a hand dismissively. "Midorima-kun said he wanted you all to drop by, by the way," he tells them. "He probably found something else."

"Thank you, Tetsuya," Akashi says, bidding Kuroko farewell who tells them that they better keep in contact this time around. Before Kagami can walk out the door, however, Kuroko grabs his wrist and implores Kagami to keep him updated on at least whether all of them were at least safe.

"They don't tell me anything," Kuroko huffs. "I worry a lot for them and sometimes I don't even know if they're still alive."

"I promise," Kagami says.

 

* * *

 

When they're walking down the streets to Midorima's place, a few people on the opposite sidewalk whistle and jeer at them, telling them to 'come with them to have some fun'. Kagami's outraged seeing as he's never seen such disrespectful behavior in the countryside.

"What's their problem?" Kagami asks angrily, clenching his fists. "Who are they catcalling anyways?"

"Uhh, me," Kise says, raising a hand awkwardly, averting his eyes. "Ignore them. Please."

Kagami has a million questions running through a head; sure Kise was pretty but something about their catcalling seemed off to Kagami. However, he decides to respect Kise's wishes, keeping quiet and despite Kise's protests, Aomine flips the strangers off, yelling at them to fuck off.

"Tch, bastards," Aomine spits, kicking a stray pebble and Kise's expression softens for a moment.

"Thanks, Aominecchi," Kise murmurs and Aomine grumbles a _'yeah, whatever, it was nothing'._

 _Definitely something,_ Kagami thinks quietly. In the week he had been living with them, Kagami had discovered the four of them had enough problems to make any therapist cry. They squabbled constantly, disagreed on every other thing, yet they shared a bond as close as family. It made Kagami a bit envious, to be on the outside looking in, but he recalls Kuroko's words and reminds himself to give it some time. Though, there was something off about all of them, Kagami muses, and not just their weird quirks. Akashi was furious when Kagami had touched his silver State alchemist watch, even though he had been returning it after finding it on the kitchen counter. Kise always seemed a bit jumpy in public and Aomine had turned awfully defensive when Kagami commented on his arm. Even Murasakibara had refused to speak to Kagami for a few hours when he had cracked a plate by gripping it too tightly and Kagami joked that it seemed Murasakibara was too strong.

However, no amount of weird could have prepared Kagami for this. Akashi rang the doorbell of a quaint house which would attract no attention from the outside. The inside, however, was a different story. Shelves were crammed full with the most obscure and antiquated objects Kagami had ever seen, all of them polished and clean as well, not a single speck of dust in sight. He almost wonders if they had wandered into some antique shop instead. There were porcelain cats, a pair of hideous purple boots, an embarrassing assortment of hats that Kagami couldn't imagine anyone wearing in public, torn gloves, paper fans and sunglasses, to name a few. The rest of them are completely unfazed by the assortment of items. Kise even takes the pair of sunglasses and slips them into his pocket.  

"Shintarou?" Akashi calls and a muffled voice answers from the floor above. The second floor, to Kagami's relief, is much more ordinary, lacking any weird articles. A tall green haired boy with glasses walks out of one of the rooms wearing a white coat and he nods his head in acknowledgement.

"Did Kuroko tell you?" Midorima asks. Akashi shakes his head. "Not the details," he replies and Midorima nods in understanding.

"Who's the new one?" Midorima asks conversationally as he leads them back into the room he came out of. Book shelves are everywhere, books packed from the floor to the ceiling.

"I'm Kagami Taiga. A new State alchemist," Kagami says. "You're Midorima Shintarou, right?"

"That would be correct," Midorima says, walking over a desk in the corner of the room. He bends over and scribbles something on a piece of paper. "Akashi, did you even clean that cut on your cheek properly? I can see it getting disinfected already."

"With water?" Akashi says sheepishly and Midorima scowls, handing the paper to Akashi.

"Drop by the store and get disinfectant for that cut," Midorima sniffs. "And Kise, you're limping again, aren't you? Are you _trying_ to destroy your leg?"

Kise protests that it's not his fault and Midorima chastises Murasakibara for eating so many sweets, who in turn, sticks his tongue out at Midorima and pops another candy into his mouth. Akashi skims over the paper, brow furrowing before thanking Midorima.

"What's that?" Kagami questions, trying to peer over Akashi's shoulder. Akashi stiffens and shoves the paper hastily into his pocket. He turns around, shooting Kagami a look that warned him he was best off not to pry.

"Nothing of importance," he says casually.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ohohoho so many secrets yet to be revealed :00
> 
> erghhh school has started so updates may slow down a bit but since i already rewrote chapters for this i hope i'll be able to keep them decently consistent..*sweats*
> 
> i know nigou is a small dog but im also really fond of the idea of him only being a puppy and growing to be a big husky or something so for the sake of this fic, let us pretend (idk what kind of breed nigou is?? in my mind he is a husky...) 
> 
> im sorry for any typos/mistakes..i thought i looked it over well enough but then i saw a mistake i fixed right before i posted >.>


	3. we're all crazy here

The silence was killing Kagami.

They'd been in the First Branch of the Central Library for at least four hours now and Kagami was dying of boredom. Just being around so many books makes his head spin. The place smelled too strongly of air fresheners and candles, making Kagami lightheaded. Akashi had made a beeline for the library right after leaving Midorima's.

("What's the deal with all your crazy objects downstairs?" Kagami asks Midorima and he swears that he lights up.

"They're lucky items," Midorima informs. "Are you interested in learning more-"

"No, he's _really_ not!" Aomine yelps hastily, taking Kagami's shoulders and steers him away. "Thanks Midorima!" he calls before he nearly pushes Kagami down the stairs and rushes out the door.

"Oi! What was the deal?" Kagami frowns and Aomine gives him a pitying look.

"Look. You don't want to talk about lucky items or horoscopes with Midorima. It's like talking with Tetsu about mechanics. They'll go on for hours whether you listen or not and they won't shut up. Trust me, you don't want to be caught in that mess.")

* * *

 

Glancing at the slip of paper again, Akashi had pulled out a couple of books, sitting down at a table and proceeding to bury his head in the book for the next few hours. He hadn't talked or looked up once, only furiously flipping back and forth between pages. Aomine had read for an hour before giving up, unable to concentrate and had fallen asleep. Murasakibara had dozed off from the beginning and Kise was resting his head on the palm of his hand, looking as if he was reading, but he was clearly trying hard to fight off sleep, head nodding off every few seconds. Kagami had resorted to tracing patterns on the polished wood table, glancing at the clock every thirty seconds. It was eight. Dinner time. Or rather, it should be. Akashi shows no signs of moving anytime soon and Kagami's unwilling to disturb him.

Fifteen more minutes pass and the ticking of the clock only seems to get louder and louder, goading him, before Kagami finally snaps.

"Akashi," Kagami calls. Akashi doesn't reply. "It's dinner time."

"Is it?" Akashi replies, not even bothering to look at the clock ."Make sure you guys eat dinner, then. If you're getting Xingese food, don't get any from the one on the corner of Fourth Street, it's too oily and make sure they don't eat all the cookies for dessert if you eat at home."

Silence falls over them again as Kagami blinks at his reply. "What about you?"

"I'll skip dinner."

"You can't do that!" Kagami protests hotly.

"Dinner is unimportant as of the moment and I'm not hungry," Akashi says impatiently. "If I'm not back by tomorrow morning, you may assume that something serious has happened to me."

"You'll ruin your body!" Kagami says and Akashi tenses, finally, glancing up from his book, reluctantly tearing his eyes away.

"My body," Akashi states flatly "is already like _this_ -" he raises his automail arm. "I'm looking for a way to fix it. If it gets a little more battered along the way, that's fine too. This should fix everything, entirely."

He sounds bitter, yet there's a hint of longing in his voice and he returns to his book. "Go on, wake them up," he says softly. "I'll be fine."

 

With great reluctance, Kagami shakes all of them awake, telling them it was time for dinner. They follow Kagami out of the library, yawning and bleary with sleep and as soon as the door to the library closes, Aomine snorts.

"Akashi, that idiot," Aomine mutters. "He's going to overwork himself to death someday before he gets his arm back. Can't even say anything because he won't listen anyways."

"Will he be okay?" Kagami asks concernedly.

"He's Akashi," Aomine says. "He'll be fine but not really."

"But not really?"

"Come on, he's probably going to spend the next twelve hours reading and decoding without so much of a break. Most people can't handle that. Akashi can. But that doesn't mean it's not going to take it's toll."

"Akashicchi can be so stupidly selfless at times," Kise sniffs. "Ah well, I want Cretan food. Kagamicchi, you've probably haven't had Cretan food, have you?"

Kagami shakes his head. There weren't many restaurants in the countryside. "Aka-chin never lets us get Cretan food," Murasakibara agrees.

 

Half an hour later, Kagami can understand exactly why Akashi didn't approve of Cretan food. Nearly all of the food was fried, everything greasy and practically soaked in oil, and it was so good.

When the bill comes to the table, everyone turns to Kagami, who's jaw drops open in indignation.

"Why do I have to pay?!" he demands.

"It's not like you don't have the money-"

"Well it's like you guys don't have the money either-"

"It's a newbie rule," Murasakibara says.

"That is so bullshit," Kagami grumbles but he pulls out a few crumpled bills and coins from his pocket, leaving them on the table. They swing by the store to pick up the disinfectant Midorima told them about and take a taxi home, going to bed early, except for Aomine who sits at the table in the kitchen with a small lamp turned on, a book - of all things - and glass of water in front of him, as if waiting. Nobody questions him and Kagami decides it's best not to either.

 

Kagami wakes up in the middle of night hearing hushed whispers from the kitchen. Akashi had come back. He and Aomine were hovering over a book, pointing at something in the pages and arguing quietly. Kagami can't hear what they're saying and decides that it's best not pry regardless, drifting back to sleep.

 

Kagami walks into the kitchen in the morning, only to find Akashi and Aomine asleep at the kitchen table, head resting on their arms. Kagami's gaze lands to the book lying to the side and bites his lip. He could very well pick it up and find out what they were so focused on but he resists the temptation. He decides that if he wanted them to trust him, he'd have to trust them too.

He puts a blanket over the both of them, showers and starts making breakfast. Murasakibara wakes up when he's flipping pancakes and Kagami asks him if there's anything they had planned today.

"I think we have a job today," Murasakibara yawns. "It probably won't be until late at night, though."

"Will these be two be okay then? They probably didn't get enough sleep," Kagami frowns, nodding at Akashi and Aomine.

"Mmm, yeah," Murasakibara says. "If not, I'm sure we three could handle it."

Kagami and Murasakibara eat at the counter so as not to disturb their sleeping friends and Kise wakes up after they're done, pouting about how they should have woken him up earlier for breakfast.

"Do we have any cookies left?" Kise asks.

"Ryouta, you are not having cookies for breakfast," a voice murmurs softly from the dining table and Akashi raises his head sleepily from the table, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Akashicchi!" Kise chastises. "Go back to sleep! You and Aominecchi are probably exhausted."

"I'll be fine," Akashi says blearily. "Where did this blanket come from...?"

"Oh, that was me," Kagami says sheepishly and Akashi thanks him, getting up stiffly and stretching. He goes up to make a cup of coffee, surprised to find one already sitting on the counter for him, still warm.

"Thank you," Akashi says, looking up at Kagami and blinking in surprise. Akashi piles food onto his plate eagerly, having skipped dinner and lets out a contented sigh when he finished. "Your cooking is heaven."

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Kagami asks casually, taking his plate from him and dumping it in the sink. He'd get someone else to do the dishes later.

"A lead," Akashi says after a moment's pause. "But all we've ever really found are leads."

"Why did you spend so long decoding? Couldn't Midorima just tell you if he already figured out?"

"Utmost secrecy is important," Akashi says simply. "We don't want any information to be heard or to fall in the wrong hands, so this is necessary."

Kagami nods in understanding. Alchemists almost always encoded their work in seemingly harmless material so that only other alchemists could decode it, although it was a tedious, and sometimes near impossible job. However, it was crucial that the information did not fall into the wrong hands.

"We have a job today, by the way," Akashi says, getting up from his seat at the counter and taking his shirt off to Kagami's surprise.

"What the hell-" Kagami says, gaping and trying not to stare. " _Why are you stripping at the table!?"_

"Preparing to take a shower," Akashi informs, walking out of the kitchen and rummaging through his closet for a change of clothes. "Why?"

"I'm just not used to it. People stripping so suddenly-" Kagami mumbles. Kise pats his back sympathetically.

"It's okay Kagami, everyone has a little crush on Akashi."

"I-what?!" Kagami yelps, jumping out of his stool. "No not like that, I meant this doesn't happen in the countryside-"

"Welcome to Central. I swing every way so you're all in danger," Akashi laughs, taking his clothes out of the closet.

"What the hell," Kagami mutters under his breath.

"But Aka-chin already has his eyes on -" Murasakibara starts.

"Atsushi," Akashi intervenes sweetly, smiling a smile that sends shivers down all of their spines and Murasakibara shuts up immediately.

"You guys are so weird," Kagami remarks, wiping down the counter and swatting Kise's hand away from the cookie jar. "When do we leave for the job?"

"Not until the evening," Akashi dismisses, walking into the bathroom.

 

Aomine doesn't wake up until it's nearly noon when Akashi had yanked the chair he was sitting on straight from under him and Aomine had fell on the ground with a thud, effectively waking him up.

"WHAT THE HELL," Aomine wails, rubbing his back.

"Good morning, Daiki," Akashi says amiably.

"Don't try to act innocent, you bastard!"

"It's the only way you'd wake up anyways," Akashi replies snippily and Aomine grouses about Akashi. Kise insists he help Kagami out in the kitchen although he mostly just bounces around, asking Kagami if needed this or that or what he was making and when it'd be done.

"What are the jobs like?" Kagami asks while he's frying rice, Kise rummaging through the pantry. Kise takes out a box of the gross sugary cereal only Aomine ate and dumps it in the trash without hesitation.

"Mm, well usually they're just criminals or gangs. We're usually not supposed to kill them so we just knock them out and have the military arrest them. Sometimes we have to retrieve information or stolen valuables or money," Kise hums thoughtfully. "That reminds me," he squints at Kagami. "We've never seen you transmute yet. Well, I suppose tonight will be as good as any other time to put your skills to the test."

That doesn't help ease Kagami's nerves one bit. "How can you be so casual about it?" he demands, stirring the rice around.

"You get used to it," Kise says, waving a hand, picking up the salt shaker and sprinkling an abundance of salt all over the meat. "Most of them are all bark and no bite anyways."

 

(Aomine takes one bite of the meat and immediately reaches for the water, chugging the entire glass down.

"Why," he gasps. "Is this meat so damn salty?!"

Kise averts his eyes. No one else touches the meat and Kise's officially banned from the kitchen.

"It's not the first time something like this has happened before either," Aomine snaps when Kise complains about 'why??'.

"That's not true-"

"Do you remember the potato incident? I remember the potato incident." Aomine, Murasakibara and Akashi all collectively shudder as the horrible memory comes back to them.

Kise shuts up after that and Kagami almost asks what they meant by the potato incident before deciding it was best not to.)

 

When the time comes for them to leave, all of them slip on their cloaks - they look like a damn rainbow, Kagami thinks - and a military car waits for them outside. None of them are old enough to drive yet, although Kise claims that he could do just fine by copying after watching someone else. Of course, no one trusts Kise behind the wheel so they still require an escort to take them to their destination.

Akashi calls shotgun and the rest of them squeeze into the vehicle; four where only three people were supposed to sit and Aomine grumbles about how they should just throw Kagami in the trunk. Murasakibara's pressed up against the glass of the car window and he grouses about how Kise needed to take up less space.

The driver looks extremely relieved when they get to their destination and they all tumble out in front of a derelict old building that looked like it'd had been standing for over a century and age had caught up to it. There's a high fence that surrounds the building, locked shut and Kise transmutes the fence to pieces. The front yard is desolate and gray, no signs of life. Dead grass crackles under their boots as they walk up to the tall double doors. Kagami wants to snort at how cliche it all looks: screechy window shutters, cobwebs and shattered windows. The doors padlocked and barricaded as well. It turns into pieces within an instant when Kise blasts a hole for them to enter. There's no light in the hall, although there were signs of life. Scattered matches, wet firewood, discarded grocery bags, bullet shells and even a sleeping bag in the far corner. Akashi gestures for them to be silent, straining to hear for any noises.

On the second floor, there comes a muffled crash and barely audible arguing. People. They climb up the stairs that are coated in dust, although recent footprints are visible in the grime. There are four doors down each side of the hallway and the noise has quieted down, leaving them with no hint as to which one the target was located in. Aomine kicks down the second door to the right. No inhabitants. Only a mattress with straw spilling out of the side and several boxes on the floor. Murasakibara tries the third door to the left. No one. Kagami kicks down the first door to the right and hits the jackpot. Two burly men turn around in surprise at Kagami's entrance. They raise their guns, snarling, and Kagami drops down to his knees, the bullet sailing over him and presses his palms to the floor.

The light from the transmutation appears and the wooden boards on the floor splinter free and clawing their way around the men's feet, legs and their torso, snaking up to bind their arms to their sides so they're caught in a wood cocoon.

The other four rush over at the sound of the struggle, the men cursing and spitting.

"Are there any more of you?" Akashi demands. The men refuse to answer. "Search the entire building. Destroy any cardboard boxes you see-" Akashi walks across the room, kicking one over and dozen packages with leaves and powder spill out. "They're wanted for the possession and distribution of these illegal drugs. Oh, and Kagami? Nice job."

Murasakibara takes charge of investigation the rest of the rooms on the current side of the second floor, Kise takes all the rooms on the other side. Kagami gets the entire downstairs area, Aomine, the basement, and Akashi, the attic.

Kagami wishes he had some light. The entire downstairs area was pitch black and he steps through wrappers and bullet shells, fully alert. He also wishes that he had brought along some other kind of weapon, left only with his alchemy now. He stumbles into a counter and he reaches his hand out, feeling the dusty marble and he guesses that this was the kitchen. He walks around, barely making out his surroundings, using his hands to feel blindly. His hand brushes over a small box and he picks it up, holding it close to his face to examine. He flips the cover off the box and sees a neat little row of unused matches and grins. Light!

His excitement doesn't last long. When he strikes the match against the cover of the matchbox and they fail to produce a single spark he realizes the matches must be wet. Kagami debates for a moment: without light he was much more vulnerable, but transmuting anything would give away his position for sure. With a heavy sigh, he casts the matches aside and continues feeling blindly through the darkness.

He makes it out of the kitchen after bumping into an old refrigerator and he's pretty sure the oven had half collapsed when he ran into it. He crashes into a chair and curses, getting up and getting real tired of being blind as a bat. His hand brushes over something on the wall as he moves along. A light switch! Kagami thought excitedly. He gropes blindly, switching it on, the lights flickering feebly showing him in a dining hall. It might have been great long ago, but now the table is scratched up, coated in grime, half the chairs missing and the other half knocked over. The chandelier lays broken in the middle of the table where it must have dropped from the ceiling. Kagami sees no footprints or signs of human life recently so he moves onto the next area, yet again engulfed by darkness.

There are soft footsteps from the back of the hallway he's moving down and he braces himself, getting ready for an attack.

Something lunges at him and he lets out a grunt, stepping to the side before pressing his palms together, and the light of the transmutation illuminates the face of his assailant.

"Aomine?" he asks incredulously, separating his palms and stopping the transmutation.

"Yeah it's me," Aomine grumbles. "Just came up from the basement from another exit. Nothing there except boxes."

"No one here so far either," Kagami confesses. There's the sound of something shattering upstairs, followed by scuffling and Kagami glances up.  

"Screw the stairs," he mutters, transmuting the roof on top of them so that there's a gaping hole between the second and first floor. He transmutes the ground below them to elevate the two of them up through the hole. On the other side of the second floor, Kise and Murasakibara are sparring against four other guys and Aomine and Kagami rush to help.

"Aominecchi! Kagami!" Kise says in surprise when the two of them show up to take out the guy he was fighting.

"Yo," Kagami greets as he takes the gun from an unconscious guy's hands. "There was no one down there. Is there any sign of-"

Across the second floor, a portion of the ceiling to the attic collapses without warning, the floor boards splintering and Akashi comes dropping out of the attic, rolling aside when he hits the ground.

"-Akashi," Kagami finishes. Two men are coughing from the dust of the debris, firing a tirade of bullets at Akashi. Kagami fumbles the gun in his own hands, aiming before pressing the trigger. He's never been a good shot and while he was aiming for the guy's stomach, he ends up hitting his leg. Close enough, Kagami thinks. Murasakibara takes down the last guy he was originally fighting and Kagami shoots the second guy after Akashi.

"Is that all of them?" Kise asks, once the last guy falls, using his foot to prod at a guy on the floor to check if he was unconscious. "The military's going to have a fit about the ceiling."

"Nobody lives here anymore," Akashi scoffs, brushing the dust off of his cloak. "Plus, anybody can restore it."

"You did good for your first time," Kise praises Kagami. "I told you there was nothing to worry about!"

"This is crazy," Kagami says, blowing a strand of hair out of his face. "You guys are crazy. This _job_ is crazy."

"What? Are you saying you're not up for it?" Aomine asks cockily, raising an eyebrow in a silent challenge.

"No," Kagami replies with a faint smirk. "Are you kidding? I love this."

 

 

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> whoooppps had this chapter in my drafts for the longest time and kept forgetting to post this. 
> 
> this chapter is so. blehhh. i didn't really like it but i guess i liked it enough to let it go.   
> i think i've proofreaded this chapter quite a bit but if there were any mistakes im sorry im too tired for this 
> 
> im 100% done with school, when will my free time return from war

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked it, bae!! ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ 
> 
> i've prewritten like 4 chapters of this already so you can expect probable periodic updates. i told you guys i was writing lke 230 things and i was not lying (there's still another multichaptered fic after this one actually...or, the story of how i die LOL) this is probably going to end up being a monster fic /sweats/ 
> 
> playing around with writing styles a bit lmao more like writing incoherent rambling but yeah 
> 
> as always, feedback is greatly appreciated! <3


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